By now you've heard about the overheating battery issue with the brand-new Galaxy Note7, even if you don't own one. What you may not have heard is that Samsung says "the battery cell issue applies only to the Galaxy Note7 sold in the U.S. before September 15, 2016." If this applies to you, read on.

Samsung calls the recall voluntary, but since manyinstitutions are now banning the Note7 or highly recommending not using them at all, we may as well call it extremely necessary. Per Samsung, since the affected devices "can overheat and pose a safety risk, it is extremely important to stop using your device, power it down and immediately exchange it using our U.S. Note7 Exchange Program." Be cautious. You don't want to find out the hard way if that includes yours!